Wenders, Wim (Wilhelm) (1945– )

German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has worked in both Germany and the USA, and many of his films explore the uneasy relationship between the two cultures. They include Paris, Texas (1984), Der Himmel über Berlin/Wings of Desire (1987), and Land of Plenty (2004). He is also known for his discerning music documentaries, such as Buena Vista Social Club (1999) and his contribution to the television miniseries The Blues (2003; episode The Soul of a Man).

With Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wenders was one of the most prominent figures to emerge from the New German Cinema movement of the 1970s, directing such films as Im Lauf der Zeit/Kings of the Road (1976) and Der amerikanische Freund/The American Friend (1977; based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith).

A film-school graduate, Wenders has written extensively on film. Paris, Texas proved hugely influential on a new generation of US film-makers, particularly in the independent sector. His other films include Alice in den Städten/Alice in the Cities (1974), Hammett (1982), The State of Things (1982), In weiter Ferne, so nah!/Far Away, So Close! (1993), The End of Violence (1997), and The Million Dollar Hotel (2000). He also helped Michelangelo Antonioni on Par-delà les nuages/Beyond the Clouds (1996).